A clinic dedicated to providing medical care to people affected by violence recently marked 10 years.
The Embrace Clinic is an outpatient clinic in the Shirley Dean Pavilion across from Surrey Memorial Hospital (9634 King George Blvd.) that opened in January 2015. It is a part of Fraser Health’s forensic nursing service.
The clinic offers short-term medical care to mature minors and adults of any gender who are survivors of recent violence, including screening and treatment of injuries and infections and referrals to specialists and community resources. The clinic also runs a strangulation clinic for patients who have experienced this type of violence.
Nurse practitioner Jennifer Bellefontaine said the clinic has supported more than 5,000 patients in the past 10 years. When the clinic started, it was a mobile response clinic that partnered with community organizations like Surrey Women's Centre.
Things changed during the COVID-19 pandemic when many of the organizations shifted to only offering virtual services and the clinic needed to see its patients in person.
"That became challenging because we can never see patients by ourselves; we always have to have another staff member available to respond to a medical or a psychiatric emergency or an outside emergency," Bellefontaine said. "When you think about the type of patients that we're seeing and the elevated risk that people have in their day-to day-life, if they're being abused by their partners."
During this time, the clinic was able to get a dedicated space.
Since then, people in the community know that they can knock on the clinic's blue door during office hours, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
"They know where to find us every day, and we are not a walk-in clinic, and we don't always have same-day appointments available, but people are always welcome to knock on the door and have a short conversation and then book an appointment for our next available," Bellefontaine said.
People can reach out to schedule an appointment, but they do get a lot of referrals from the forensic nursing service in the emergency department at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
"We do see a lot of vulnerable folks from our community as well, and so them knowing 'This blue door is where I can go and be welcomed warmly and not judged,' because of ongoing instances of violence, because of vulnerable lifestyles and things like that."
"Patients have shared that they've always felt safe, supported, and their medical needs are being listened to and acknowledged," she added.
The Embrace Clinic is currently taking part in a study to improve the diagnosis of brain injuries in survivors of intimate partner violence.
The study, which started in 2023, recently received a $3.4-million grant from the United States Department of Defence as part of the United States Army Medical Research and Development Command.
Researchers will obtain and analyze blood samples from survivors at Surrey's Embrace Clinic, Nanaimo Regional and Cowichan District Hospitals and community-based organizations in Kelowna. Plasma collected from the process will be used to look for biomarkers for brain injuries.
To book an appointment, call 604-807-5406 to talk with a nurse practitioner or email embraceclinic@fraserhealth.ca.
